Reviewing Grants Using the Peer Review System (PRS) https://prs.nifa.usda.gov/

PRS is NIFA’s confidential and collaborative electronic system for grant application viewing.

Contents Overview ....................................................................................................................................................... 2

Before you use PRS ....................................................................................................................................... 2

Things to Keep in Mind ............................................................................................................................. 2

Before Panel: Application Review ................................................................................................................. 2

Login Screen .............................................................................................................................................. 3

Home Screen ............................................................................................................................................. 4

Confidentiality Guidelines ......................................................................................................................... 4

Conflict of Interest .................................................................................................................................... 5

Review Instructions ................................................................................................................................... 5

Write your Review .................................................................................................................................... 6

During the Panel: Panel Summaries .............................................................................................................. 7

Responsibilities for Panel Summaries ....................................................................................................... 7

Summary Menu ......................................................................................................................................... 7

New (Scribe Only) ..................................................................................................................................... 8

Released for Comments (Other Proposal Reviewers) .............................................................................. 9

Compile (Scribe Only) .............................................................................................................................. 10

Center of Excellence ................................................................................................................................... 11

COE Guidelines ........................................................................................................................................ 11

Review COE ............................................................................................................................................. 12

Other Questions? ........................................................................................................................................ 12

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Overview • Before you use PRS • How to Review Proposals BEFORE the Panel in PRS • During the Panel

o Scribe Responsibilities o Other Reviewer Responsibilities

Before you use PRS Things to Keep in Mind

• Internet Browsers: PRS has been modified to work on multiple browsers. Internet Explorer, Chrome, and Firefox on PCs and Safari on Macintosh computers have all been verified as compatible with PRS. If you have difficulty accessing PRS in one of these browsers, please contact the program staff member assisting with your panel.

• Pop-Ups: You will need to disable your popup blocker in order to see all messages from PRS. • Adobe Acrobat Reader: You must use version 7.0 or higher. In earlier versions of Adobe, a blank

page will come up when you try to access a proposal. • User ID (email): This is the email address we have for you in our database. See the email

instructions we sent on accessing PRS. • PRS times out in about an hour if there is no activity. Write your reviews and summaries in a

word processing program (such as Word). Then, when they are ready, paste them into PRS. Also, save a back-up copy of your reviews until the panel is complete.

• Special characters do NOT paste reliably into PRS. This includes different font styles and formatting (e.g., bullets and smart quotes). BOLD, Italics, and Underlining, if desired, can be added to text from within PRS.

• There is no spell check in PRS.

Before Panel: Application Review Before you can complete a review, you will be asked to consider three things:

• Confidentiality • Conflict of interest rules • Careful reading of instructions

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Login Screen Go to https://prs.nifa.usda.gov and you should see the login screen:

• You can access instructions through the “Helpful Hints” link in the menu bar at the top and bottom of the screen.

• You User ID is the email that is in the NIFA database. It should be included in the email that you received with instructions on how to access PRS.

o If you are creating a new account, you will be asked to fill out/confirm existing data in a questionnaire that includes information about your education and areas of expertise.

• If you have trouble logging into PRS, please contact your program staff. They can reset your password if your verification question is not working or make.

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Home Screen

After you log on, you will see a list of proposals for under each assigned program divided into two sections: “Grant applications for your review” (your assigned reviews) and “Grant applications reviewed by others”. If you have more than one group of applications to review, you will need to scroll down to see them.

Click on the application number in order to read the proposal (Adobe Acrobat reader is required). Click on “Create/modify your review” to write or edit your review. You can save your review and return to edit it later before submission. Once you have “Submitted” your review, you can click on “Read all reviews” to view what other panelists have written.

As long as you do not have a Conflict of Interest, you can also read applications and reviews that have been reviewed by others by clicking the appropriate links.

Confidentiality Guidelines When you click on “Create/modify your review” for each assigned proposal, you will see NIFA’s Confidentiality Guidelines:

While the content of applications is subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), reviewers should not disclose information contained in applications as it is the role of the Department of Agriculture, not the reviewer, to determine whether such information is releasable pursuant to the FOIA. For this reason, confidentiality must be maintained--therefore please DO NOT copy, quote, or otherwise use material from this application. If you believe that a colleague can make a substantial contribution to the review, consult with the appropriate National Program Leader before disclosing either the contents of the application or the applicant's name. When you complete the review, please destroy the application and maintain its confidentiality. If you are unable to review, please contact the respective National Program Leader, destroy the application and maintain its confidentiality.

Unauthorized disclosure of confidential information may subject you to administrative sanction, i.e., removal from review of the application and/or disqualification from involvement in future reviews.

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There will be buttons to “Accept” or “Decline” these guidelines. If you click “Decline” by accident, ask your program staff to have the review reset.

Conflict of Interest After accepting the Confidentiality Guidelines, you will be asked whether or not you have a Conflict of Interest with the proposal according to NIFA’s guidelines:

You must disqualify yourself from the review panel if you are a project director, co-project director, collaborator or are considered key personnel, or have a personal relationship (spouse, child, sibling, parent, or close personal friendship) with personnel on any application being considered by the panel. You must disqualify yourself as a reviewer of an application if you have had one of the following relationships with the project director or other key personnel listed in the application:

• Have ever been a thesis or postdoctoral advisee/advisor; • Have been a co-author on a publication within the past three years, including pending

publications and submissions; • Have been a collaborator on a project within the past three years (including current and

planned collaborations). • Have had a consulting/financial arrangement or other conflict-of-interest in the past three

years, including receiving compensation of any type (e.g., money, goods or services); • Are currently employed by the same institution, were previously employed by the same

institution within the past 12 months, or are being considered for employment at the same institution; or

• Have any relationship that you think might affect your impartiality or be seen as doing so by a reasonable person familiar with the relationship.

• If there are other circumstances that you feel could affect your impartiality regarding an application, please inform the program director or panel manager.

If you determine that you have a conflict of interest, or an appearance of a conflict, and are unable to review an application that has been assigned to you, please notify the NIFA National Program Leader immediately.

If you click “I have a conflict” by accident, ask your program staff to have the COI reset so that you can write your review. You will not be able to view applications or their reviews if you have a Conflict of Interest.

Review Instructions You will also be given a list of any documents uploaded in the Review Instructions and you will need to confirm that “I have read the above documents”.

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Write your Review

The top of the screen will have usage tips:

To avoid possible data loss, please use word processing software to compose and save the text of your review(s) or panel summaries, then copy and paste it into PRS.

Also, please proofread your review(s) or panel summaries as some formatting and special characters may not be preserved.

You will paste and edit your review in the large white text box where bold, italics, and underlining are available.

Under your review, you will need to indicate your score by clicking on the button next to the score. The scoring categories may vary depending on program.

Afterward, you have two button choices:

• Save: Click “Save for Later” at the bottom to review and write more at another time. • Submit: Click “Continue” and then “Complete Submission.” You will then be able to read reviews

from the other panelists assigned to this proposal. This is the collaborative aspect of the program.

Remember: Your review is not complete (and we at NIFA can’t see it) until you click “Continue” AND “Complete Submission.” “Save” just saves your work for later.

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During the Panel: Panel Summaries Responsibilities for Panel Summaries

• Note: Summaries are not initiated until the panel meeting, before then the “Summaries” option will not be present in the menu at the top of the screen.

• The Scribe is responsible for drafting the panel summary and incorporating comments. • The other reviewers assigned to each application are responsible for reviewing and providing

comments on the panel summary. • Note: More detailed instructions for panel summaries will be provided during the panel.

Summary Menu To access the summaries, panelists should click on “Summaries” in the top bar menu in PRS.

A list of applications is shown with basic information on the proposal, the current state of the summary, and the names scribe and other panelists assigned to the application. Panelists will not be able to view applications where they have a Conflict of Interest.

• The Panel Summary State will dictate which panelist is able to take the next step. New allows the panel scribe to edit, Released for Comments allows other assigned panelists to edit, and Compile allows the panel scribe to do final edits. Additionally, for certain programs, there are two other possible options: “Review COE” and “Review Partnership”.

• A checkmark next to a panelist’s name means that they have drafted/compiled (panel scribe) or reviewed (panelists) the panel summary.

• A lock icon to the right of the panelist name means the panelist is currently editing the panel summary and other panelists cannot edit it.

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New (Scribe Only) After each application discussion, the scribe will click on “New” for that application to draft the panel summary. If an application undergoes the triage process and does not have a discussion, NIFA staff will mark the application as “Triaged” and the assigned panelists will not need to work on a panel summary.

• Complete each section of the panel summary form. Click on the +/- in the header bars (Positive Aspects, Negative Aspects, Synthesis) to expand or minimize that section. (Note: The program summary form may differ from the example shown. Please review the instructions provided for your specific panel.) • Positive Aspects: summarize the panel discussion of the strengths of the proposal. • Negative Aspects: summarize the panel discussion of the weaknesses of the proposal. • Synthesis Comments: explain/justify the final ranking of the proposal, but DO NOT include

the ranking or the word “funding” in the text. • To view the reviews, click “Reviews.” • To save the panel summary and work on it later, click the “Save for Later” button. • To submit the panel summary and make it available to other panelists, click the “Submit”

button. (After the other reviewers have seen and commented on the panel summary, the scribe will then incorporate any comments before the final submission.)

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Released for Comments (Other Proposal Reviewers) If it is not already locked for review by another reviewer, click on Panel Summary State “Released for Comments” to access the panel summary. To lock panel summary from other assigned reviewers while adding comments, click “Lock-to Comment.” In order to mark it as reviewed in PRS, all assigned panelists must do this even if they don't have any edits to suggest.

• To view the reviews, click “Reviews.” To display the original panel summary, click “Original Panel Summary.”

• Click on the +/- in the header bars (Positive Aspects, Negative Aspects, Synthesis) to expand or minimize that section while reviewing the text and make your edits:

o No changes: insert last name and indicate agreement. o Comments: insert last name and enter comments.

• To save your comments and continue working on reviewing the panel summary, click “Save for Later”. Other reviewers cannot review and comment the panel summary while you have it locked.

• After you are finished commenting on the panel summary, click the “Submit” button. You cannot go back into the summary after you submit your comments. If you left out a comment and the summary is still available, you can contact the Scribe to ask them to incorporate your

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additional edits. The Panel Summary State will change to “Released for Comments” for other panelists to edit or “Compile” after all panelists have reviewed it.

Compile (Scribe Only) Once all other proposal reviewers have completed the summary review and edits, a “Compile” link will show up. To edit and incorporate reviewers’ comments, click on the Panel Summary State: “Compile.”

• Click on the +/- in the header bars (Positive Aspects, Negative Aspects, Synthesis) to expand or minimize that section.

• Delete all references to reviewer’s names and incorporate edits, removing any italics, underlining or bold formatting used to highlight edits.

• To view the reviews, click “Reviews.” To display the original panel summary, click “Original Panel Summary.”

• To save the panel summary once editing is complete, click the “Submit” button. • To edit text, if necessary, click “Go Back and Edit.” • To submit the completed panel summary, click the “Complete Submission” button. The Panel

Summary State will change to “Submitted” and will no longer be available for further edits unless returned by the NPL or Panel Manager.

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Center of Excellence This section is only applicable to programs that allow requests for Center of Excellence review.

Once the panel summary has been completed (drafted, reviewed by assigned panelists, and compiled/submitted the by the scribe), the “Review COE” option in the Panel Summary State will show up next in PRS.

COE Guidelines Eligible applicants who wish to be considered as centers of excellence must provide a brief justification statement at the end of their Project Narratives and within the page limits provided for Project Narratives, describing how they meet the standards of a center of excellence. The panel should review the applications requesting COE designation based on the following criteria:

(A) The ability of the center of excellence to ensure coordination and cost effectiveness by reducing unnecessarily duplicative efforts regarding research, teaching, and extension in the implementation of the proposed research and/or extension activity outlined in this application;

(B) In addition to any applicable matching requirements, the ability of the center of excellence to leverage available resources by using public-private partnerships among agricultural industry groups, institutions of higher education, and the Federal Government in the implementation of the proposed research and/or extension activity outlined in this application. Resources leveraged should be commensurate with the size of the award;

(C) The planned scope and capability of the center of excellence to implement teaching initiatives to increase awareness and effectively disseminate solutions to target audiences through extension activities in the implementation of the proposed research and/or extension activity outlined in this application; and

(D) The ability or capacity of the center of excellence to increase the economic returns to rural communities by identifying, attracting, and directing funds to high-priority agricultural issues in support of and as a result of the implementation of the proposed research and/or extension activity outlined in this application.

Additionally, where practicable (not required), center of excellence applicants should describe proposed efforts to improve teaching capacity and infrastructure at colleges and universities (including land-grant colleges and universities, cooperating forestry schools, certified Non-Land Grant Colleges of Agriculture (NLGCA) (list of certified NLGCA is available at NIFA website), and schools of veterinary medicine).

If you have any questions, check with your NIFA program team.

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Review COE After a determination has been made on COE status, the scribe will click on “Review COE” next to Panel Summary State to get to the following screen:

• The default status for COE is “No” since a majority of applicants do not request COE consideration. In the case of applicants who have not requested COE review, the panel scribe can leave both “No” buttons selected, click on the “Continue”, and then “Submit.”

• If the application requested COE review, the button should be “Yes” for Applicant submitted justification for COE Review, • For applications that requested, but were not reviewed for COE due to lower ranking in

panel, it should be “No” for Reviewed for COE designation and then “Not ranked highly enough for COE review” under the COE Review outcome section.

• For applications that requested and received review for COE status, it should be “Yes” for Reviewed for COE designation and the COE Review outcome will depend on the panel’s decision.

o “Met the Standard for COE” will have an additional button to click to confirm that all criteria were met.

o “Did not meet the Standard for COE” will reveal checkboxes to mark which criteria were not met.

• Afterward, click on the “Continue”, and then “Submit.”

Other Questions? • Contact the program staff assigned to your panel, or • Use the “contact us” option at the top of the screen in the PRS system to report technical

difficulties.